David Schindlerhttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/5373/all
enFederal Study Reignites Pollution Concern in Expanding Tar Sands Region http://desmog.ca/2013/01/18/federal-study-reignites-pollution-concern-expanding-tar-sands-region
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/tar%20sands%20emissions.jpg?itok=K7KKLlNa" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Dr. David Schindler, the scientist who sounded the alarm on <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">tar sands contamination back in 2010</a>, has suddenly found his research backed by an <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/07/Kurek-et-al-Athabasca-Oil-Sands-Legacy.pdf">Environment Canada study</a> recently published in the prestigious journal <em><a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a></em>. The <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/07/Kurek-et-al-Athabasca-Oil-Sands-Legacy.pdf">federal study</a>, which confirmed Schindler’s hotly-contested research, has reignited concerns over the pace and scale of development in the Athabasca region, an area now beset with a host of ecological and human health concerns. </p>
<!--break-->
<div>
Environment Canada scientists Jane Kirk, David Muir and Joanne Parrott confirmed Schindler’s conclusion that hydrocarbon-derived contaminants, known as <a href="http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastemin/minimize/factshts/pahs.pdf">polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</a> (<span class="caps">PAH</span>s), have polluted the landscape surrounding tar sands operations. The new study found high concentrations of <span class="caps">PAH</span>s in areas <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/07/Kurek-et-al-Athabasca-Oil-Sands-Legacy.pdf">more than 100 kilometers away from Fort McMurray</a>, an area dominated with open-pit mines and bitumen refineries. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/8382801968/in/photostream"><img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/tar%20sands%20photo.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 349px; " /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size:9px;">In early 2012 DeSmog traveled to Fort McMurray with <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/8382801968/in/photostream">photographer Kris Krug</a>. This image, taken of refineries that border the area's open pit mines, shows only a fraction of the impact industrial development has had on the surrounding landscape. </span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/07/Kurek-et-al-Athabasca-Oil-Sands-Legacy.pdf">new study</a> draws upon <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">Schindler’s discovery</a> that snowfall plays a pivotal role in the transport of <span class="caps">PAH</span>s and other toxins throughout the landscape and into waterways. Laboratory testing showed snow melt from the area is <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">fatal to young minnows</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Dr. Schindler told DeSmog that what the research really demonstrates is the extent to which industry and government have failed to monitor – and mitigate – the negative environmental affects of tar sands development.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“Both background studies and environmental impact assessments have been shoddy, and could not really even be called science,” he said. “This must change.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
If there is a hint of frustration in Schindler’s candid remarks on the topic, it isn’t without warrant. In 2010, after the release of his <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">original research</a> on tar sands pollution, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/30/us-oilsands-environment-idUSTRE67T3H920100830">Alberta government accused him of scientific bias</a>, calling the legitimacy of his research and his professional credibility into question. The provincial government at the time stood firmly by the line that any present contamination in the watershed was <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/08/31/oilsands-ramp-kuzmic.html">naturally occurring</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
When asked if management of the tar sands has been based on sound science, Schindler’s answer is definitive: “No.” Both industry and government, he says, have failed to monitor the environmental impact of bitumen mining and production. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“Monitoring studies by <span class="caps">RAMP</span> [<a href="http://www.ramp-alberta.org/RAMP.aspx">Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program</a>] and Alberta Environment have been poorly done, according to recent panel reports.” </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“The studies that have been done have been very poor, using poor statistical design, inadequate sampling, and chemical methods with poor limits of detection.” </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Because of this, says Schindler, local wildlife is suffering. “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/09/29/death-woods-canadian-federal-government-delays-release-caribou-recovery-strategy-again">Caribou are in decline</a>, and probably not recoverable. Many predatory mammals and boreal song birds are also in decline.” </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Numerous reports of <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/06/01/edmonton-deformed-fish-lake-athabasca.html">deformed fish</a> in waterways downstream of tar sands operations, most notably in <a href="http://www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca/living_2227/Communities/Fort-Chipewyan.htm">Fort Chipewyan</a>, may also be related, says Schindler.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“Earlier studies by Environment Canada and Queen’s University scientists showed that fish eggs hatched on bitumen contaminated sediments had high mortalities, and that the few survivors had malformations, which were described as like those observed in adult fish caught near Fort Chipewyan.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“When contaminated snow melts and runs off, it is toxic. I think a connection is very probable.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Schindler says similar malformations have occurred downstream of other polluted areas in the Great Lakes Basin and known Superfund sites. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Fort Chipewyan also suffers from elevated rates of cancer. Schindler says the link between the poor health of local communities and oil production is impossible to make “without considerable further study.” He adds: “The most likely carcinogens are some of the poorly studied polycyclic aromatic compounds.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The need for health studies in the region is crucial, according to Schindler, and also long-overdue.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“A health study of Fort Chipewyan was recommended in the final report of the Northern River Basins study in 1996, and it has still not been done.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size:9px;"><em>Photos used with permisson of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/8382801968/in/photostream">Kris Krug</a>.</em></span></div>
</div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '6797';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=6797"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2738">oilsands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/oil-sands">oil sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5421">contamination</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10998">polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10997">PAHs</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8890">Toxin</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10994">deformed fish</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6102">Fort Chipewyan</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/environment-canada">Environment Canada</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11567">Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6818">Athabasca River</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11002">Jane Kirk</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11162">David Muir</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11003">Joanne Parrott</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7371">Fort McMurray</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5538">bitumen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10933">RAMP</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1165">Alberta</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11568">carcinogens</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6144">Cancer</a></div></div></div>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000Carol Linnitt6797 at http://www.desmogblog.comDr. David Schindler: Tar Sands Science "Shoddy," "Must Change"http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/21/schindler-tar-sands-science-shoddy-must-change
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Tar%20Sands%20shadow%20by%20KK.jpg?itok=1Q1stblI" width="200" height="271" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>If you ask an Environment Canada media spokesperson about contamination resulting from tar sands operations, they will not tell you the federal government has failed to adequately monitor the mega-project's effects on water.<br /><br />
They most certainly will not say outright that the federal government has failed to monitor the long term or cumulative environmental effects of the world's largest industrial project. They won't say it, but not because it isn't the case. </p>
<p>The tar sands are contaminating hundreds of kilometres of land in northern Alberta with cancer-causing contaminants and neurotoxins.<br /><br />
And although federal scientists have confirmed this, they are prevented from sharing information about their research with the media. </p>
<div>
In fact, if a journalist wants to approach a public servant scientist these days, he or she is required to follow the federal ministry's media relations protocol, one which strictly limits the media's access to scientists, sees scientists media trained by communications professionals who coach them on their answers, determine beforehand which questions can be asked or answered, and monitor the interaction to ensure federal employees stay within the preordained parameters.<br /><br />
The result is an overly-monitored process that causes burdensome delays in media-scientist interactions. The overwhelming consequence is that the media has stopped talking to the country's national scientists.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
But University of Alberta scientist Dr. David Schindler is ready and willing to pick up the slack, especially after Environment Canada federal scientists recently presented findings that vindicated years of <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">Schindler's contentious research</a> exposing the negative effects of tar sands production on local waterways and aquatic species.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
According to Schindler, the rapid expansion of the tar sands is not based on valid science: “Both background studies and environmental impact assessments have been shoddy, and could not really even be called science. This must change,” he told DeSmog.</div>
<!--break-->
<div>
Federal scientists Jane Kirk, David Muir and Joanne Parrott <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/14/tar-sands-are-toxic-federal-scientists-present-evidence-spread-contaminants-affects-fish">presented official Environment Canada findings</a> two weeks ago at a conference in California that confirmed tar sands related contaminants are not only polluting waterways in the immediate region, but in <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">pristine areas over 100 kilometres away</a>, and with contaminants - <a href="http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/pah.html">polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</a> - known to cause cancer in humans. The research team also discovered contaminants carried in snowfall are transporting the toxins to tributaries where hatchlings spend their early days. Laboratory tests showed snow melt is <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">fatal to young minnows</a>. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The federal scientists' findings have given new strength to the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">overshadowed research of Schindler</a>, who concluded years ago that further monitoring and scientific studies were immediately necessary to ensure adequate protection of the local wildlife, fish species and communities that live off the land. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
One such community is located in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Chipewyan,_Alberta">Fort Chipewyan</a>, located 220 kilometers downstream of the tar sands on the shores of Lake Athabasca. Fort Chipewyan is also home to the <a href="http://www.acfn.com/">Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation</a>, a community that lives off the land, trapping, hunting and fishing year round.<br /><br />
No federal studies have researched contamination in furbearing mammals living near the tar sands, although species decline - as is evident in the <a href="http://desmogblog.com/crywolf">disappearance of caribou</a> - is becoming an increasing problem.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
In 2003 and 2004, the public was shocked to hear that high levels of rare colon and bile-duct <a href="http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=6951e2e4-76fc-4bd1-b32e-8a6e045be0c1">cancers plagued the community of Fort Chipewyan</a>. Family physician John O'Connor, who discovered the problem, was charged with <a href="http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=6951e2e4-76fc-4bd1-b32e-8a6e045be0c1">professional misconduct </a>in 2007 by Health Canada. The federal body accused the practitioner of causing 'undue alarm' in the community and subsequently blocked O'Connor's access to patient files.<br /><br />
The<a href="http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/500.asp"> Alberta Cancer Board confirmed in 2008</a> that higher than normal rates of rare cancer were present in the small community. The government refused to remove the charge of alarmism from O'Connor's file until late 2009, despite <a href="http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=6951e2e4-76fc-4bd1-b32e-8a6e045be0c1">express wishes from the residents of Fort Chipewyan</a> to have the accusation dropped.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
But Dr. O'Connor is not the only cautious voice to receive heavy-handed treatment from the government when it comes to unwanted information regarding the tar sands. Dr. Schindler's findings regarding contamination originating from the tar sands was publicly called into question by the provincial government who <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/30/us-oilsands-environment-idUSTRE67T3H920100830">accused Schindler of scientific bias</a>. At the time the provincial government claimed contaminants in the watershed were <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/08/31/oilsands-ramp-kuzmic.html">naturally occurring</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The recent release of <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">federal science confirming Schindler's research</a> has reignited concerns over the safety of wildlife, aquatic species and communities living in the massive contamination zone surrounding tar sands operations. It has also renewed calls for further study into <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/09/16/edmonton-oilsands-deformed-fish.html">deformed fish surfacing in Lake Athabasca</a>. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
DeSmog posed five questions to Dr. Schindler. What he had to say was surprisingly candid, given the tight-lipped disposition of federal scientists and the absence of powerful scientific voices in mainstream media. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<em>1. Is there a relation between deformed fish in Lake Athabasca and the recently-released Environment Canada studies that have found tar sands related contaminants in water? </em></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
It is impossible to say with certainty. Earlier studies by Environment Canada and Queen's University scientists showed that fish eggs hatched on bitumen contaminated sediments had high mortalities, and that the few survivors had malformations, which were described as like those observed in adult fish caught near Fort Chipewyan. The abstract by Parrott et al. also shows that when contaminated snow melts and runs off, it is toxic. I think a connection is very probable. Note that there are similar incidences of fish malformations downstream of polluted sites in the Great Lakes Basin, and downstream of Superfund sites.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<em>2. Have industry and government done an adequate job of ensuring the health of the local landscape, wildlife and communities in the region surrounding the tar sands? </em></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Absolutely not. Monitoring studies by <span class="caps">RAMP</span> [<a href="http://www.ramp-alberta.org/RAMP.aspx">Regional Aquatics and Monitoring Program</a>] and Alberta Environment have been poorly done, according to recent panel reports. A health study of Fort Chipewyan was recommended in the final report of the Northern River Basins study in 1996, and it has still not been done. Caribou are in decline, and probably not recoverable. Many predatory mammals and boreal song birds are also in decline.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<em>3. Has environmental monitoring been in place to ensure local First Nations, who live off the land and water, are safe in doing so?</em></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
No. The studies that have been done have been very poor, using poor statistical designs, inadequate sampling, and chemical methods with poor limits of detection.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<em>4. Is there any relation between unhealthy fish and elevated rates of cancer in Fort Chipewyan? If people are eating fish that have been exposed to high levels of <a href="http://water.epa.gov/scitech/methods/cwa/pollutants-background.cfm#pp">priority contaminants</a> (like methyl mercury), could that affect the health of those individuals? What about repeated exposure for those individuals who are eating the fish, local game, and drinking the water?</em></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This is impossible to tell without considerable further study. Mercury is likely not linked to cancer, it is a neurotoxin. Fish have high mercury, but no diagnostic test results have been released for people. The most likely carcinogens are some of the poorly studied polycyclic aromatic compounds. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<em>5. In your opinion have the decisions regarding the rapid expansion of the tar sands been made on sound science?</em></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
No. Both background studies and environmental impact assessments have been shoddy, and could not really even be called science. This must change.</div>
<div>
</div>
</div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '6682';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=6682"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11154">John O&#039;Connor</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/oil-sands">oil sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11155">Athabasca</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11156">Lake Athabasca</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10354">Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6102">Fort Chipewyan</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11157">contaminated fish</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10930">mutated fish</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10994">deformed fish</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6144">Cancer</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11158">rare cancer</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11159">elevated levels of cancer</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11160">bile duct cancer</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11161">muzzling of scientists</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8119">Harper Government</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10920">federal scientists</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11002">Jane Kirk</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11162">David Muir</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11003">Joanne Parrott</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10925">environmental monitoring</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/interview">Interview</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11163">contaminants</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11164">tar sands contamination</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10997">PAHs</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10998">polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11011">methyl mercury</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6635">Water Contamination</a></div></div></div>Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:00:00 +0000Carol Linnitt6682 at http://www.desmogblog.comToxic Tar Sands: Scientists Document Spread of Pollution, Water Contamination, Effects on Fishhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/14/tar-sands-are-toxic-federal-scientists-present-evidence-spread-contaminants-affects-fish
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/kk%20emissions.jpeg?itok=QhAOppEJ" width="200" height="134" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Today federal scientists from Environment Canada presented research at an international toxicology conference in the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> that indicates <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">contaminants from the Alberta tar sands are polluting the landscape on a scale much larger than previously thought</a>.</p>
<p>A team lead by federal scientist Jane Kirk <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">discovered contaminants in lakes</a> as far as 100 kilometers away from tar sands operations. The federal research confirms and expands upon the hotly contested<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long"> findings of aquatic scientist David Schindler</a> who, in 2010, found pollution from the tar sands accumulating on the landscape up to 50 kilometers away.</p>
<p>“That means the footprint is four times bigger than we found,” <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">Schindler told Postmedia News</a>.</p>
<p>Senior scientist Derek Muir, who presented some of the findings at <a href="http://longbeach.setac.org/node/3">Wednesday's conference</a>, said the contaminated region is “potentially larger than we might have anticipated.” The 'legacy' of chemicals in lake sediment gives evidence that tar sands pollution has been traveling long distances for decades. Samples show the build up of <a href="http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/pah.html">polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</a>, or <span class="caps">PAH</span>s, known to <a href="http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/pah.html">cause cancer </a>in humans and to be toxic to aquatic animals, in 6 remote and undisturbed lakes up to 100 kilometers away from tar sands operations.<br /><br />
The pollutants are “petrogenic” in nature, meaning they are petroleum derived, and have steadily and dramatically increased since the 1970s, showing the contaminant levels “seem to parallel the development of the oilsands industry,” <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">Muir said</a>.</p>
<p><!--break-->After the release of Schindler's <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">groundbreaking research on tar sands pollution</a> in 2010 the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/08/31/oilsands-ramp-kuzmic.html">Alberta government claimed the contaminants were naturally occurring</a> and posed no risk to aquatic life.</p>
<p>However at today's conference, the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.setac.org/">North American Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry</a>, Kirk discussed the long list of '<a href="http://water.epa.gov/scitech/methods/cwa/pollutants-background.cfm#pp">priority pollutants</a>' that accumulate in the region's snow. Within 50 kilometers of the tar sands, snowpack contains numerous contaminants including dangerous neurotoxins, such as <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/#environment">methyl mercury</a>, that <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/#environment">bioaccumulate in food webs</a>. Kirk found priority pollutants in the air were 1.5 to 13 times higher at test sites within 50 kilometers of tar sands refineries, and highest within 10 kilometers.</p>
<p>Abstracts for Kirk, Parrott and Muir's presentations can be found on pages 103 and 104 of the <a href="http://longbeach.setac.org/sites/default/files/SETAC-abstract-book-2012.pdf">conference programme (pdf)</a>.</p>
<p>“We don't really know the fate of the various metals including mercury as they go from snow, to melt water to run-off and then into the aquatic environment,” <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">Muir told Postmedia</a>.</p>
<p>The toxicity of melt water from snow falling in the tar sands region was researched by federal scientist Joanne Parrott, who also presented at the conference. Studying snow samples taken in 2011 and 2012 along the Athabasca River, Parrott found that the melt water was toxic to minnow larvae, even when diluted down to 25 percent. “The larval fish don't do very well in that snow at all,” <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">she said</a>.</p>
<p>Parrott suggests melt water, once mixed with water from the Athabasca River, will no longer be toxic to minnows.</p>
<p>Snow melt, however, provides a significant amount of water to tributaries where fish hatch in the spring, <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">says Schindler</a>. “My big concern is that slowly because of mortalities at spring melt, that this will erode the fishery, killing off the embryos,” <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">he told Postmedia</a>, pointing to the abnormally low numbers of fish in the Muskeg River as a possible occurrence.</p>
<p>Parrott plans to expand her research to consider whether young fish in tributaries that feed the Athabasca River are affected by the pollution.</p>
<p>Schindler's research has already highlighted the increasing incidence of <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/09/16/edmonton-oilsands-deformed-fish.html">fish deformity in areas downstream of tar sands operations</a>, like Lake Athabasca. “I think what could happen is that the few embryos that manage to survive, deformed as they are, struggle down to Lake Athabasca,” <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">he said</a>, adding the fish look “so horrible” the First Nations who depend on them for survival will not eat them, even if they don't have confirmed high levels of contaminants.</p>
<p>“I think that's fair enough, they wouldn't sell in Safeway,”<a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6"> Schindler commented</a>.</p>
<p>The scientists' presence at the conference is significant given the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/08/stephen-harper-hates-science-federal-government-muzzles-scientists-protect-tar-sands-reputation">Harper government's strict control of scientific communications surrounding the tar sands.</a> Federal scientists were <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">prevented from speaking with the media</a> at the same conference in Boston last year.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">internal document</a> uncovered by Postmedia instructed federal scientists to avoid answering media questions, saying “if scientists are approached for interviews at the conference, the <span class="caps">EC</span> communications policy will be followed by referring the journalist to the media relations…phone number. An appropriate spokesperson will then be identified depending on journalist questions.”</p>
<p>After Postmedia's <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">Mike De Souza released the internal document</a> last week, <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">Environment Canada made arrangements</a> for the news agency to speak with both Muir and Parrott.</p>
<p>Postmedia's <a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Federal+scientists+uncover+evidence+that+oilsands+contaminants+travel+further+than+expected/7542920/story.html#ixzz2C9pE0cF6">Margaret Munro explains</a>: “Environment Canada earlier this month said scientists were not available to comment on their findings of contamination around the oilsands. The department’s media office arranged this week’s interviews with Muir and Parrott after Postmedia News obtained details of the reports the scientists will present at the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> conference on Wednesday.”</p>
<p>As DeSmog covered in an <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/08/stephen-harper-hates-science-federal-government-muzzles-scientists-protect-tar-sands-reputation">earlier post</a>, the Harper government's heavy-handed treatment of federal scientists led to a mass demonstration this summer, where scientists and academics mourned the “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/08/stephen-harper-hates-science-federal-government-muzzles-scientists-protect-tar-sands-reputation">Death of Evidence</a>,” claiming “<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/08/stephen-harper-hates-science-federal-government-muzzles-scientists-protect-tar-sands-reputation">Stephen Harper Hates Science</a>.” </p>
<p>The government's strict communications policy is seen by some as an attempt to silence critics voicing science-based opposition to development of the tar sands.</p>
</div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '6659';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=6659"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/oil-sands">oil sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6818">Athabasca River</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10994">deformed fish</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5421">contamination</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2738">oilsands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10995">aquatic life</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6144">Cancer</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10996">human cancer</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10997">PAHs</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10998">polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2920">pollution</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6192">Toxic</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6635">Water Contamination</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10999">lake sediment</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11000">lake contamination</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11001">tar sands lake contamination</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11002">Jane Kirk</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10924">Derek Muir</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11003">Joanne Parrott</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/environment-canada">Environment Canada</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10920">federal scientists</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10927">muzzling</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7354">conference</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11004">toxicology conference</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11005">Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11006">minnows</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11007">tributaries</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9486">snow</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11008">snow melt</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11009">downstream</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11010">priority pollutants</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11011">methyl mercury</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11012">bioaccumulation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11013">food web</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10919">death of evidence</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11014">stephen harper hates science</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8119">Harper Government</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11015">communication</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9469">gag order</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11016">muzzling federal scientists</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2495">Mike de Souza</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/11017">Margaret Munro</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6558">Postmedia News</a></div></div></div>Thu, 15 Nov 2012 05:04:26 +0000Carol Linnitt6659 at http://www.desmogblog.com"Stephen Harper Hates Science": Federal Scientists Muzzled to Protect Tar Sands Reputationhttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/08/stephen-harper-hates-science-federal-government-muzzles-scientists-protect-tar-sands-reputation
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/gagged-scientist_final.jpg?itok=zvWhSAvI" width="200" height="200" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The Canadian government is working hard behind the scenes to cover up the negative effects that tar sands extraction is having on the local environment, wildlife, communities and the global climate. According to<a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html"> Access to Information documents</a> obtained by Postmedia's <a href="http://o.canada.com/author/mikejdesouza/">Mike De Souza</a>, the <a href="http://desmog.ca/stephen-harper"><strong>Stephen Harper</strong></a> government has actively suppressed the release of vital information regarding the spread of tar sands contamination by muzzling federal scientists.</p>
<p>The gag order, according to De Souza, came on the heels of a newly researched government report in November 2011 which confirmed the findings of University of Alberta scientists Erin N. Kelly and David Schindler. The scientists <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">discovered concentrations of toxics such as heavy metals were higher near tar sands operations</a>, showing a positive correlation between tar sands activity and the spread of contaminants in the local environment.</p>
<p>The government of Canada and the government of Alberta <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">denied the correlation</a>, saying local waterways tested showed no signs of toxic contamination and reports of mutated and cancerous fish downstream from the tar sands were unfounded.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>The <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">document uncovered by De Souza</a> shows that federal scientists who could confirm the University of Alberta results were <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">restricted from speaking to the media</a>: “If scientists are approached for interviews at the conference, the [Environment Canada] communications policy will be followed by referring the journalist to the media relations…phone number. An appropriate spokesperson will then be identified depending on journalist questions.”</p>
<p>Federal scientists were also <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">given a list of scripted responses</a>, explaining government tests in the spring of 2010 showed no toxics in the Athabasca River and established no links between contaminants and abnormal and sick fish.</p>
<p>Scientists were also directed to avoid questions regarding environmental monitoring of the tar sands and the role Environment Canada plays in the region with this scripted line: “I am a scientist. I'm not in a position to answer that question but I'd be happy to refer you to an appropriate spokesperson.”</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/gagged-scientist_final.jpg" style="width: 550px; " /></p>
<p>David Schindler, co-author of the 2010 University of Alberta study <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Oilsands+Environment+Canada+confirms+contamination/7515181/story.html">commented,</a> “it is a good study, and [the author] is a very fine young scientist, who should be trusted to comment on her own results.”</p>
<p>“Similarly, Derek Muir, her supervisor and co-author, is one of the world's top contamination experts, and <strong>Canadians should be ashamed that he cannot discuss results directly with the public, but must go through an official spokesperson</strong>.”</p>
<p>In 2010, the results of <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">Kelly and Schindler's contaminant analysis </a>caused an uproar in Alberta and federal governments. Eager to promote expansion in the tar sands, the Canadian government failed to install a sound and independent monitoring system for the region.<br /><br />
Any data used to support the government's official position, that no contamination had occurred, was supplied by the oil and gas industry.</p>
<p>Schindler conducted a basic analysis of waterways in the region, sampling water both upstream from tar sands operations, and downstream. What Schindler and his team discovered was a <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">considerable accumulation of pollutants in water downstream from tar sands</a> development which includes open-pit mining and refining.</p>
<p>Most notably, Schindler discovered that airborne pollutants were being deposited on land, far from contaminated waterways like the Athabasca River. It was Schindler who first recognized the role<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrew-d-miall/alberta-oil-sands_b_906070.html"> snow</a> was playing in the transportation and depositing of tar sands pollution.</p>
<p>These land-based pollutants mirrored contamination of waterways. <a href="http://www.greenparty.ca/sites/greenparty.ca/files/attachments/a_comprehensive_guide_to_the_alberta_oil_sands_-_may_20111.pdf">Schindler found</a> that “embryos of fish exposed to oilsands' water and sediment have very high rates of mortality, and among the survivors, there are very <a href="http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2010/09/16/15374696.html">high rates of deformities</a>.”</p>
<p>His research confirmed the concerns of local communities, First Nations and environmental groups that the fast-tracking of tar sands expansion without careful monitoring was having negative effects on the environment and those living downstream.</p>
<p>The findings also contradicted research conducted by the industry/government group <a href="http://www.ramp-alberta.org/RAMP.aspx">Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program</a> (<span class="caps">RAMP</span>), a group <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/30/us-oilsands-environment-idUSTRE67T3H920100830">Schindler claims</a> “violated every rule” of long-term study.</p>
<p>In perhaps one of Canada's most scandalous moments in recent history, Dr. Schindler was publicly discredited by the provincial and federal government. His research and his credibility were <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/30/us-oilsands-environment-idUSTRE67T3H920100830">called into question </a>when the Alberta government went on record to say his study - which was published in the prestigious <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/37/16178.long">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a> - was biased and that contaminants in the region's watershed occur <em>naturally</em> and not as a result of industrial activities.</p>
<p>The treatment Schindler received as a result of his research concerned scientists across Canada, many of whom felt the federal government was conduction a 'witch hunt' to silence information that might fuel opposition to the tar sands.</p>
<p>Schindler's experience was just one of many reasons why scientists from across Canada held a mock memorial this summer on Parliament Hill, mourning the “<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/07/10/pol-death-evidence-protest-parliament-hill.html">Death of Evidence</a>,” caused by the muzzling of scientists by the federal government.</p>
<p>The motto of the event was clear: “<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/07/10/pol-death-evidence-protest-parliament-hill.html">Stephen Harper Hates Science</a>.”</p>
<p>To this day no clear environmental monitoring program is in place to track and analyze the effects that tar sands extraction and refining has on the local environment. Last month the Alberta government announced the creation of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/17/us-alberta-oilsands-idUSBRE89G1PP20121017">a new scientific body to monitor the impacts of development,</a> which Diana McQueen, the province's Environment Minister, suggests will be 'credible' and operate at an 'arms-length' from industry and government. The plan, however, has yet to take any real shape.</p>
<p>“This is yet another plan to develop a plan,” <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/17/us-alberta-oilsands-idUSBRE89G1PP20121017">said Greenpeace energy and climate campaigner Mike Hudema</a>. “There is still no funding commitment and no clear governance model to ensure independence. The province should stop approving new projects based on flawed data and incomplete information until this gets sorted out.”<br /><br /><br /><em>Image credit: <a href="http://jodistark.ca/About_Jodi.html">Jodi Stark</a></em></p>
</div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '6644';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=6644"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10919">death of evidence</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10932">Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10933">RAMP</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10934">Diana McQueen</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10935">Environment Minister</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/greenpeace">greenpeace</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5440">Mike Hudema</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/science">Science</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10920">federal scientists</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6192">Toxic</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5421">contamination</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9486">snow</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10921">mike de souze</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9493">Postmedia</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10922">document</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10923">access to information</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2738">oilsands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6818">Athabasca River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10924">Derek Muir</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10925">environmental monitoring</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5947">corruption</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/attack-on-science">attack on science</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10926">harper hates science</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10927">muzzling</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10928">muzzles</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10913">silence scientists</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10929">credibility attack</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10930">mutated fish</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10931">cancerous fish</a></div></div></div>Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:33:52 +0000Carol Linnitt6644 at http://www.desmogblog.comOil Industry Looks to Create "Lake District" from Open-Pit Mines and Toxic Tar Sands Wastehttp://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/04/oil-industry-looks-create-lake-district-open-pit-mines-and-toxic-tar-sands-waste
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Picture%2024.png?itok=dUS0u4z7" width="200" height="70" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>This week, the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (<span class="caps">CEMA</span>), an industry-funded consultancy group in Alberta, <a href="http://cemaonline.ca/index.php/component/content/article/89-cema-news/press-releases/press-release-articles/196-press-release-cema-delivers-oilsands-mine-end-pit-lake-guidance-document-october-4-2012">released the <em>End Pit Lakes Guidance Document</em></a> to the Government of Alberta for review. The 434-page document outlines a 100-year plan to integrate open-pit mines and tar sands tailings into Northern Alberta's local ecosystem, introducing what they call a 'reclaimed lake district' as a long-term alternative to the temporary tailings ponds that currently hold the billions of gallons of water, sand, clay, hydrocarbons, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphthenic_acid">naphthenic acids</a>, salt and other byproducts of the bitumen extraction and upgrading process.</p>
<div>
The 30 proposed <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ambitious-plans-for-oil-sands-would-create-lakes-from-waste/article4583817/">end-pit lakes (<span class="caps">EPL</span>s) will take up more than 100 square kilometers, spread out over an area of 2,500 square kilometers</a>. Toronto, for comparison, covers an area of 630 square kilometers. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Industry envisions the artificial lake district as a future recreation site, although there is no indication yet that filling empty open-pit mines with freshwater will give way to the clean natural environments necessary to promote recreational uses of the area. In fact, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ambitious-plans-for-oil-sands-would-create-lakes-from-waste/article4583817/">The Globe and Mail reports </a>the document “highlights the scale of the ecological gamble underway in the province” and suggests the technique is being considered as a remediation option because “it's less costly to fill a mine with water than dirt.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<!--break-->
<blockquote>
<div>
The <a href="http://cemaonline.ca/index.php/component/content/article/89-cema-news/press-releases/press-release-articles/196-press-release-cema-delivers-oilsands-mine-end-pit-lake-guidance-document-october-4-2012"><span class="caps">CEMA</span> document</a> describes an <span class="caps">EPL</span> as “An engineered water body, located below grade in an oil sands post-mining pit. It may contain oil sands by-product material and will receive surface groundwater from surrounding reclaimed and undisturbed landscapes. <span class="caps">EPL</span>s will be permanent features in the final reclaimed landscape, discharging water to the downstream environment.”</div>
<div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
<img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Picture%2021.png" /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://cemaonline.ca/index.php/component/content/article/89-cema-news/press-releases/press-release-articles/196-press-release-cema-delivers-oilsands-mine-end-pit-lake-guidance-document-october-4-2012">The basic <span class="caps">EPL</span> “scenario”</a><a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1047849/cema-delivers-oilsands-mine-end-pit-lake-guidance-document"> </a>involves capping bitumen byproduct with freshwater. Surface runoff, rain, groundwater and tailings waste are all considered “inputs” to which <span class="caps">CEMA</span> suggests operators may add “process-related materials” such as “tailings deposits, tailings sand, lean oilsands, petroleum coke and process-affected waters that remain at the end of mine operations.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The operational logic behind the plan banks on the fact that bitumen waste will sink and release remaining water to the “water cap” where natural processes will accomplish the majority of the remedial work.</div>
<div>
<img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Picture%2022.png" style="width: 572px; height: 333px; " /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<img alt="" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Picture%2023.png" style="width: 572px; height: 355px; " /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Whether or not the plan will work is entirely unknown and veiled in “scientific uncertainty,” according to <span class="caps">CEMA</span>. The “potential for substantial negative and environmental and/or social impacts,” they add, is “likely” for <span class="caps">EPL</span>s and thus decision-makers should employ the “precautionary approach.” It is anticipated that the success or failure of these toxic installations will not be known until decades after their construction. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The scope of <span class="caps">CEMA</span>'s vast watershed experiment emphasizes the severity of the impact tar sands development has on the landscape as well as the absence of alternative reclamation plans.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Syncrude, the largest operator in the tar sands, has already begun experimenting with the process in preparation for the first-ever end pit lake slated for construction in the next few months. The company's 'base mine lake,' which covers 40 vertical meters, will be 'capped' with fresh water and developed into an <span class="caps">EPL</span>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“The major purpose of this [base mine lake] demonstration is to help understand and define these timeline,” Warren Zubot, senior Syncrude engineering associate, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ambitious-plans-for-oil-sands-would-create-lakes-from-waste/article4583817/">told The Globe and Mail</a>. “We're very confident this technology is going to work.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
A previous Syncrude experimental pond was so successful it was able to support rainbow trout after one year, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ambitious-plans-for-oil-sands-would-create-lakes-from-waste/article4583817/">according to Zubot</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Scientists, environmental groups, and local communities and First Nations are somewhat less optimistic about the plan.</div>
<div>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div>
“The basic concern,” Carolyn Campbell from the Alberta Wilderness Association (<span class="caps">AWA</span>) told DeSmog, “is that end pit lakes with tailings at the bottom will release toxins such as naphthenic acids from tailings into the environment, to the detriment of ecosystems generally. <strong>And so many end pit lakes have been approved on sheer faith rather than demonstrable results that it's creating a potential huge environmental liability</strong>.”</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“It's going to be a completely alien landscape,” <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ambitious-plans-for-oil-sands-would-create-lakes-from-waste/article4583817/">said Peter Fortna</a>, who works with local Métis in nearby Fort McKay. “They try to find the cheapest option as opposed to the best option.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Dr. David Schindler of the University of Alberta also remains skeptical these disposal pits can furnish healthy ecosystems in the long term. “We must have some assurance that they will eventually support a healthy ecosystem,” he said, adding to date there is no “evidence to support their viability, or the 'modelled' results suggesting that outflow from the lakes will be non-toxic,” <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ambitious-plans-for-oil-sands-would-create-lakes-from-waste/article4583817/">reports The Globe and Mail</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The <span class="caps">CEMA</span> report acknowledges there is little certainty regarding the long-term disposition of bitumen byproducts in lake beds. The toxic residue may migrate to shallow or surface areas. The report cites “the sudden occurrence of bitumen slicks on Suncor's 20-year-old sustainability ponds after years of bitumen-free surface conditions.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
It would remain the government's prerogative to determine whether or not the lakes, after decades of natural modification, can be certified environmentally sustainable.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Yet even the return to a non-toxic environment in the tar sands area will still have severe adverse impacts on species that require peatland and muskeg for their survival. <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/09/29/death-woods-canadian-federal-government-delays-release-caribou-recovery-strategy-again">Woodland caribou, which are being wiped out in the tar sands region because of industrial expansion, are one such species</a>. Section 4.2.4 of the <span class="caps">CEMA</span> report (pg. 108) outlines affected wildlife species without even mentioning caribou. </div>
<div>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div>
Campbell from <span class="caps">AWA</span> adds “the reclamation phrase<em> 'Returning mineable oilsands in the Athabasca oilsands region to a state functionally equivalent to the natural conditions that characterize the boreal forest of northern Alberta…' </em>in the <a href="http://cemaonline.ca/index.php/component/content/article/89-cema-news/press-releases/press-release-articles/196-press-release-cema-delivers-oilsands-mine-end-pit-lake-guidance-document-october-4-2012">[<span class="caps">CEMA</span>] media release</a> is misleading in that the reclaimed landscapes will lack freshwater peat wetlands that make up <u>over half</u> of the pre-disturbance landscape, will be species poor compared to the pre-disturbance landscape, and will lack the carbon storage and carbon sequestration capacity of the pre-disturbance landscape.”</div>
</blockquote>
</div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '6566';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=6566"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10405">CEMA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10406">Athabasca tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10407">remediation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8498">Reclamation</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10408">End Pit Lakes</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10409">EPL</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1388">Syncrude</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/suncor">suncor</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5538">bitumen</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10369">tailings ponds</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10410">toxic tailings</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5736">wildlife</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10357">habitat</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10411">Peter Fortna</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10412">Warren Zubot</a></div></div></div>Sat, 06 Oct 2012 18:56:29 +0000Carol Linnitt6566 at http://www.desmogblog.comAlberta Government Agrees Environmental Impact of Tar Sands Warrants Further Investigationhttp://www.desmogblog.com/alberta-government-agrees-environmental-impact-tar-sands-development-warrants-further-investigation
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Minister-addresses-WfL.jpg?itok=0iaz8U7J" width="200" height="133" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A <a href="http://environment.alberta.ca/documents/WMDRC_-_Final_Report_March_7_2011.pdf">report</a> released by the Water Monitoring Data Review Committee earlier this month refuted previous Alberta Environment and industry studies on the serious threat of water contamination stemming from tar sands operations.</p>
<p>Environment Minister Rob Renner responded by promising to work to create a “<a href="http://www.alberta.ca/acn/201103/300309B7C9208-C885-824C-D3C04D2D67FAEBF9.html">better, more transparent and credible monitoring system in Alberta</a>” that would assess the impacts of tar sands development on the Athabasca watershed. Renner’s tune has changed since declaring that heavy metals and other pollutants were <a href="http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/09/02/KoolAidMinisters/">naturally-occurring</a> in the river, a view supported by the industry-funded Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (<a href="http://www.ramp-alberta.org/ramp/design+and+monitoring/approach/study+areas.aspx"><span class="caps">RAMP</span></a>) study. <!--break--></p>
<p>The <span class="caps">RAMP</span> study faced a brief scientific feud in 2009 when <a href="http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/david_schindler/?Page=1023">Dr. David Schindler</a> and Erin Kelly of the University of Alberta performed <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/52/22346.short">independent studies</a> directly linking significant concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (<span class="caps">PAC</span>s) and heavy metals to tar sands development. The independent studies also criticized the <span class="caps">RAMP</span> for committing over 10 years of inconsistent sampling. Given that water monitoring didn’t begin until years after the multi-billion dollar tar sands project ensued, it was difficult for any of the studies to draw a clear picture of environmental impacts.</p>
<p>The Schindler study voiced concerns that <span class="caps">RAMP</span> had “fostered the perception that high-intensity mining and processing have no serious environmental impacts”- in other words, that <span class="caps">RAMP</span>’s questionable science had served as industry spin. Schindler recommended forming an independent board of experts to uphold the quality of the science.</p>
<p>Rather than sit on the sidelines, Premier Ed Stelmach worked with Schindler to form the <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/298391">Water Monitoring Data Review Committee</a> in September 2010. The Committee was made up of independent scientists recommended both by Schindler and by the government. It reviewed the studies previously done by both Schindler and by <span class="caps">RAMP</span>. While the recent report identified limitations in both the Schindler and the <span class="caps">RAMP</span> studies, they agreed with Schindler’s conclusion that <span class="caps">PAC</span>s and heavy metals are being introduced into the environment by tar sands development.</p>
<p>The Committee also agreed that the Alberta Environment and <span class="caps">RAMP</span> studies were suspect, as “the <span class="caps">RAMP</span> program has many monitoring sites, but the low sampling frequency limits their ability to determine impacts from oilsands operations,” and the “Alberta Environment report…was not intended to assess impacts of the oil sands on the river.” Additionally, they found discrepancies that suggested there were more pollutants than Alberta Environment or <span class="caps">RAMP</span> chose to report.</p>
<p>For some time, the Alberta government has <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Fort+Chip+vindicated/4434258/story.html">ignored community concerns</a> about water quality and health issues related to tar sands development. For example, they failed to investigate the high cancer rates in the community of Fort Chipewyan and other areas until the <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Fort+Chipewyan+wants+answers+about+cancer+rates/3484397/story.html">S</a><a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Fort+Chipewyan+wants+answers+about+cancer+rates/3484397/story.html">chindler and Kelly study was publicized</a>. Even then, the health study was managed by a committee with industry connections, raising serious questions about conflict of interest.</p>
<p>The recent concessions by Alberta Environment suggest that they may be willing to recognize valid science, and possibly even admit they have been wrong. Although overcoming outright denial is a positive step, it is unlikely that the government will actually act on any new findings. When the Alberta government says “<a href="://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/article1935307.ece">more study is needed</a>,” it sounds like they are buying more time to perfect their ongoing tar sands spin campaign.</p>
<p>On the positive side, the Alberta Government can no longer accuse communities like Chipewyan of ignoring science - industry and government science vindicating the tar sands - when citizens voice their concerns. The question remains whether those voices will travel over the clamour of the tar sands industrial lobby.</p></div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '5211';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=5211"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2509">alberta tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2580">alberta oil sands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2600">ed stelmach</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5307">Rob Renner</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6099">alberta environment</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6100">water monitoring alberta</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6101">tar sands development</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6102">Fort Chipewyan</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6103">tar sands health issues</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6104">water quality alberta</a></div></div></div>Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:23:30 +0000Michael Fisher5211 at http://www.desmogblog.com75 Groups from Canada, US and Europe Call for End to Toxic Tar Sands Tailingshttp://www.desmogblog.com/75-groups-canada-us-and-europe-call-end-toxic-tar-sands-tailings
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/800px-EVOSWEB_013_oiled_bird3.jpg?itok=YJaznqBF" width="200" height="143" alt="Photo courtesy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council " /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>75 groups from across Canada, the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> and Europe have signed a <a href="http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40239.html">petition</a> calling on the federal and Alberta governments to immediately phase out existing tailings lakes and deny any proposed project that would create new tailings lakes. Greenpeace issued the call-out last week, and 45 groups across Canada, including 23 Alberta-based groups, six <span class="caps">U.S.</span> groups, and one group from Europe have signed on to support a moratorium on destructive tar sands practices. To date, there have been over 600 signatories to the petition. </p>
<p>Greenpeace’s petition comes as European members of Parliament (<span class="caps">MEP</span>s) wrapped up their <a href=" http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/delegation+visit+crucial+oilsands/3762378/story.html">tour of the Alberta tar sands</a> late last week. European members of Parliament were visiting to weigh in on the controversial dirty crude and were to report back on their findings regarding <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/review-eu-fuel-quality-directive/article-167990">fuel legislation </a>that could inhibit or impact the use of tar sands products. At stake is possible legislation and restriction on the importation of the dirty crude, or the labeling of it as “dirty” or “high carbon”.<!--break--></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/review-eu-fuel-quality-directive/article-167990">European Fuel Quality Directive</a>, to be implemented January 1, 2011, would set <span class="caps">EU</span>-wide specifications for petrol, diesel and gas used in cars and other vehicles with the aim of protecting human health and the environment. The European Commission proposed mandatory monitoring and reporting of “lifecycle greenhouse emissions” from fuels, which is essentially an obligation for fuel suppliers to ensure that the greenhouse gas emissions from their fuels throughout their life cycle (from production to transport to use) are cut by 10% by 2020 (Article 7a). The Directive would prevent some 500 million tonnes of <span class="caps">CO</span>2 from being released into the atmosphere, but considerable disagreement remains over key elements in the proposed text. </p>
<p>The initial draft of the Directive discouraged the use of tar sands products by classifying them as dirty. Canadian diplomats responded by arguing that the Directive could be seen as a trade barrier. While European experts studied the issue, all reference to the tar sands was dropped from the new draft policy. Canada undoubtedly has a vested economic interest in ensuring the Directive’s text is favorable to the tar sands. Even though Europe is not a very significant market right now for Canadian tar sands, Europe’s policy decisions could inspire other nations to enact similar policies that would have more direct impacts on the export potential of oilsands.</p>
<p>Although Canada has hosted nearly 50 tours of the tar sands for various international delegations, the European tour was particularly important. Not only is the <span class="caps">EU</span>’s population of nearly 500 million a big market for oil products, but the <span class="caps">EU</span> enjoys a lot of political clout and influence. According to International and Intergovernmental Relations Minister Iris Evans, Canadian leadership fears that “if something happens in the <span class="caps">EU</span> and it is spread in other countries…we could have roughly one-third of the world’s population subscribing to regulation or legislation that mitigates against our oilsands”.</p>
<p>And while it represents a tiny market, dirty tar sands fuel is already finding its way to European pumps. A report from Greenpeace, <em><a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands/Resources/Reports/tar_sands_in_your_tank/">Tar Sands in Your Tank: Exposing Europe’s Role in Canada’s Dirty Oil Trade</a> </em>finds that Europeans are filling up at the tank with the dirty fuel, perhaps unwittingly. <br /><br />If the Directive were to label the tar sands oil as dirty or to restrict its import to <span class="caps">EU</span> countries, that could be devastating to oilsands industry profits. </p>
<p>Texas-based Valero Energy understands that cleary. The oil company that helped <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/largest-donor-prop-23-has-ties-tar-sands">bankroll Prop 23</a> in California also has extensive ties to the tar sands. Valero and ExxonMobil are the main industry players enabling Alberta crude to enter the <span class="caps">EU</span> market. These oil superpowers want to see tar sands output increase dramatically in the coming years, so a European Fuel Quality Directive is seen as a threat to their bottom line.</p>
<p>Last week, European parliamentarians got the red carpet treatment, while the Alberta government swept the dirty facts under the rug. As the <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/delegation+visit+crucial+oilsands/3762378/story.html">Edmonton Journal reported</a>, European members of parliament were not given a true picture of the toxic tar sands. Delegation chairman Philip Bardbourn said the parliamentarians were not told about the recent <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67T3H920100830" target="_blank">David Schindler report </a>that found that the tar sands boost the concentration of dangerous metals in the Athabasca watershed. The group was instead fed a bunch of industry and government greenwash, and told that the pollutants are naturally occurring. And what of those <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69L4K620101027" target="_blank">ducks killed by Syncrude</a>? </p>
<p>According to a report by <a href="http://www.foeeurope.org/corporates/Extractives/Extractingthetruth_April08.pdf">Friends of the Earth Europe</a>, oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell and <span class="caps">BP</span> have been lobbying forcefully against the <span class="caps">EU</span>’s Fuel Directive. They even called for Article 7a to be completely removed from the text, claiming that it was “premature”.</p>
<p>The Alberta government doesn’t want the rest of the world to question the clear environmental threat posed by tar sands development. Leadership mistakenly sees this as a <span class="caps">PR</span> problem to be finessed, rather than the real environmental threat it truly represents. If Alberta made a real effort to clean up the tar sands, the <span class="caps">PR</span> spin would be unnecessary. Instead, Evans is jetting off on a 12-day trip to Asia to sell the tar sands to the Asian market (at an estimated cost of over $20,000) while Premier Stelmach is headed to India to do much of the same. </p>
<p>While the ducks keep dying and oilsands emissions keep polluting the globe, Alberta’s spin campaign continues. How long will Alberta be beholden to the shortsighted profit motive of giant oil companies?</p></div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
<div class="icopyright-article-tools-horizontal icopyright-article-tools-left">
<script type="text/javascript">
var icx_publication_id = 14813;
var icx_content_id = '4911';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/rights/js/horz-toolbar.js"></script>
<noscript>
<a class="icopyright-article-tools-noscript"
href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.14813?icx_id=4911"
target="_blank"
title="Main menu of all reuse options">
<img height="25" width="27" border="0" align="bottom"
alt="[Reuse options]"
src="http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.png"/>
Click here for reuse options!
</a>
</noscript>
</div>
<!-- iCopyright Tag -->
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/friends-of-the-earth">Friends of the Earth</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/greenpeace">greenpeace</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/657">ExxonMobil</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/740">european union</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1165">Alberta</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/1388">Syncrude</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2632">tar sands</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2738">oilsands</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5219">Valero Energy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5371">regulation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5372">European Fuel Quality Directive</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5373">David Schindler</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5374">Syncrude duck deaths</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5375">Iris Evans</a></div></div></div>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:25:56 +0000Emma Pullman4911 at http://www.desmogblog.com